Standard 2.5: Designer
From the ISTE website (2024):
Educators design authentic, learner-driven activities and environments that recognize and accommodate learner variability.
a. Use technology to create, adapt and personalize learning experiences that foster independent learning and accommodate learner differences and needs.
b. Educators design authentic learning activities that align with educational standards and use digital tools and resources to maximize learning.
c. Educators apply evidence-based instructional design principles to create innovative and equitable digital learning environments that support learning.
Reflection:
The Design Process in Engineering is often represented in a cycle diagram. It begins with Identifying a problem or goal. The next steps include listing criteria and constraints, followed by brainstorming and research. Eventually, an approach is selected, and the detailed designing and planning takes place. Finally, a prototype is completed and evaluated. At this point, the process has come back around to identifying a new problem, analyzing what can be improved, and proceeding through the steps again. My students practice using this process at a few different grade levels.
The same type of model can be applied to education design. In fact, the ADDIE model: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate, is not that much different from the Engineering Design Process. As I develop and implement new lesson plans, I often find ways to make them better for next time. The first year of a new lesson, it does not usually work perfectly. After a couple years of polishing, it is usually much better.
As Standard 2.5 describes, lesson design should factor in different learner needs, should be creative, and should help to create a culture and environment of learning.
Featured Artifact:
For my primary artifact, I present my Minecraft unit for 4th grade. During this project, students learn about the Engineering Design Process. They follow the steps as I described earlier, brainstorming and creating a floor plan for a house that they proceed to build in Minecraft: Education Edition. Students learn valuable skills as they are also having fun. The link above is a Google Drive folder containing the following: 1) Minecraft Unit Plan, 2) Design Process Worksheet, 3) Floor Plan Example, 4) Screenshots of Student Projects, 5) Video of Student Projects on Display, 5) Minecraft World Screenshot, and 6) Minecraft: Education Edition World file.
Secondary Artifact:
Lesson Plan for a Debate Unit integrating AI (developed for EDTC 620)
Sources:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2024). ISTE standards: For educators. https://iste.org/standards/educators
University of Washington - Bothell. (n.d.). ADDIE model. https://www.uwb.edu/it/addie